Hutia

Hutia, (family Capromyidae), any of 26 living and recently extinct species of Caribbean rodents. The surviving species of hutia are short-limbed and stout and have a large head, small eyes and ears, prominent claws, and long whiskers. Size ranges from the rat-sized dwarf hutia (Mesocapromys nanus), with a body length of 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 inches), to the raccoon-sized Desmarest’s Cuban hutia (Capromys pilorides), with a body 32 to 60 cm long and weight of up to 8.5 kg (19 pounds). The tail ranges from very short and inconspicuous in Brown’s hutia (Geocapromys brownii) to pronounced and prehensile in the long-tailed Cuban hutia Mysateles prehensilis. Depending on the species, the tail may be thinly or thickly furred and have a thick coat of fur that may be soft or coarse; colours range from gray to brown to black above, with lighter underparts.

Bahaman hutia (Geocapromys ingrahami).Painting by H. Douglas Pratt

Natural history

Adept tree and rock climbers, most hutias are terrestrial and none are known to burrow. Instead, they den in tree nests and among tree trunk cavities and roots, as well as in deep rock crevices, caves, and holes in limestone. There are diurnal and nocturnal species. The long-tailed Cuban hutias are nocturnal and entirely arboreal and thus rarely descend from tree crowns. They resemble tree squirrels as they run along branches and leap from one tree to another. Hutias eat roots, tubers, leaves, stems, and bark; Desmarest’s Cuban hutia also consumes small vertebrates. They obtain all water requirements from their food.

Hunting by native islanders and early European colonists led to the extermination of hutias on various islands. For example, the Puerto Rican hutia (Isolobodon portoricensis) was probably indigenous to Hispaniola and introduced to Puerto Rico and some of the Virgin Islands, but it is now extinct. Some hutias are not endangered, but others are rare and becoming more so owing to human population expansion and habitat destruction, especially forests. The remaining populations are found in swamp forests, along coasts, and in rocky, mountainous habitats. Although hutias once ranged from sea level to high elevations, they are presently restricted to cays, steep ravines, or remote mountain valleys.

Classification and paleontology

Hutias constitute the family Capromyidae of the suborder Hystricognatha within the order Rodentia. Their closest living relatives are the nutria and American spiny rats. The oldest species of hutia (genus Zazamys) is represented by Cuban fossils from the earlyMiocene Epoch (23 to 13.8 million years ago); remains of the eight genera listed below do not date earlier than the Pleistocene Epoch (2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago). Five species of giant hutia belonging to a separate family, Heptaxodontidae, may have survived into historical time.

Family Capromyidae (hutias)

13 surviving species in 5 genera; 9 of the 22 species in these 5 genera are extinct, apparently within historical time. All 4 species in the 3 genera Hexolobodon, Isolobodon, and Rhizoplagiodontia are also extinct within historical time.